Re: Package Pool Proposal

[brian moore <bem@cmc.net>]

On Mon, Dec 06, 1999 at 08:03:32PM +0100, Samuel Tardieu wrote:
> Since you didn't get a WRITTEN offer from the Debian FTP team (as they chose
> to use alternative (a) by distributing the source as well), you cannot
> use alternative (c).

Depends on interpretation of the word 'written'.

Email and Fax suffice as written here (the only potential problem is
deniability: "I didn't send that email" or "that wasn't from my fax
machine").  I doubt many courts would determine otherwise in a case
regarding software downloaded via the internet.  If electronic means
are sufficient for delivery, why are the same means insufficient for
notice?

There is a written offer in the .readme of the ftp directory which
mirrors already pick up.

If your lawyers are insisting that "written" means "on paper", then I
suggest it's time to find new lawyers that are more aware of the issues
regarding intellectual property in the network age.

-- 
Brian Moore                       | Of course vi is God's editor.
      Sysadmin, C/Perl Hacker     | If He used Emacs, He'd still be waiting
      Usenet Vandal               |  for it to load on the seventh day.
      Netscum, Bane of Elves.